Los Gatos High School

Infobox School

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imagesize = 250px
caption = Los Gatos High School is located on Main Street in Los Gatos, California
name = Los Gatos High School
established = 1908
type = Public high school
district = Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District
principal =Doug Ramezane
enrollment = 1761
colors = Orange, Black
mascot = Wildcats, (unofficially -Zeus the cat)
religious_affiliation= None
location = Los Gatos, California
country = United States
communities= Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga
feeders= Fisher Middle School, C.T. English
website = http://www.lghs.net/

Los Gatos High School (LGHS) is a high school in Los Gatos, California, a small town near San Jose in the Silicon Valley. Los Gatos High School was founded in 1908 and is part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District. During the late 1880s up until the establishment of Los Gatos High School, high school aged students were taught at Los Gatos Central School, a grammar school which was established in 1886. cite book
last = Conaway
first = Peggy
title = Images of America: Los Gatos
origyear = 2004
publisher = Arcadia Publishing
location = Charleston, South Carolina
id = ISBN 0-7385-2903-6
pages = 119-121
chapter = Cultural Memory ]

The school enrolls approximately 1700 students and employs about 100 teachers. In 2004, 94% of graduating seniors went on to attend college, including 64% to four-year colleges. Los Gatos High School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and has regularly received six-year accreditations, the highest possible. The school has been recognized twice as a National School for Excellence. LGHS is also notable for its sports programs and exceptional athletes, making it unique among academically distinguished public schools in the area.

The current school landscape is notable for its spacious extensive front lawn and neoclassical main building, which was designed by W. H. Weeks, a famous architect of schools of California. His Greek Revival style was famous in the 1920s and 1930s. The main building was dedicated on January 17, 1925, built using a $250,000 bond measure which passed in 1923. Other buildings and various additions to the main building were built in the period between the dedication of the main building in 1925 and 1970. The school underwent no major construction from 1970 until 1998, when the school successfully passed a $79 million bond measure in the town of Los Gatos to renovate the aging buildings. Since then, several new buildings have been constructed, and all of the old buildings have been renovated.

Due to the unusual joint cooperative nature of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, up until 2005, Saratoga High School shared Los Gatos High School's Prentiss Brown Auditorium for performing arts and up until 2006, they shared Helm Field for football games. Both are located on the grounds of Los Gatos High School but are available for equal use by both schools. Up until 2006, when the Los Gatos High School football team played Saratoga, both were actually the home teams since they shared the field. The title of home team was switched each year when the two schools played each other.

The Los Gatos High School mascot is the wildcat. Although the wildcat is a very common school mascot, it is perhaps uniquely suited to Los Gatos High School, as "los gatos" is Spanish for "the cats".

The Los Gatos High School unofficial mascot is Zeus the Cat who wanders all around the school and is very well known amongst the students and staff. [Wildcat 2008, page 141]

Notable alumni

Notable alumni at Los Gatos High School include:
* Jared Allen, NFL defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings
* Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer, passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11 believed to have stormed the cockpit after its hijacking
* Kari Byron, best known for her appearances on the Discovery Channel show "MythBusters"
* Hugh Campbell, former head coach of NFL Houston Oilers, Canadian Football League Edmonton Eskimos, winner of 5 Grey Cup championships.
* Michael Eugene Couchee, Major League Baseball player
* Trent Edwards, Buffalo Bills quarterback, NFL
* Olivia de Havilland, actress who played Melanie Hamilton in "Gone with the Wind"
* Bill Fairband, NFL linebacker for the Oakland Raiders, 1967-68.
* Joan Fontaine, Academy Award-winning actress, estranged sister of Olivia de Havilland
* Scott Frank, screenwriter, who wrote the screenplays to "Get Shorty" and "Minority Report"
* Dan Jinks, producer of "American Beauty", "Big Fish" and "Down with Love"
* Ryan Nyquist, a professional BMX rider
* Mike Park, musician and owner of Asian Man Records
* Holden Smith, former wide receiver for NFL Indianapolis Colts, United States Football League Oakland Invaders.
* Ggreg Snyder, actor, writer and pop-culturist.
* Terry Scott Taylor, lead singer and songwriter for Daniel Amos, The Swirling Eddies and founding member of Lost Dogs
* Christine Von Saltza, Winner of 3 Gold Medals and 1 Silver Medal for Swimming in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.
* Carrie Yazel, "Playboy" Playmate of the Month, May 1991.
* Members of the bands dredg, Trapt and Skankin' Pickle.
* Fred Markham, Olympic bicycle racer
* Jeffrey Hornaday, choreographer and director. Choreographed "Flashdance" and Madonna world tours.Olivia de Havilland spoke at the school's centennial commencement in 1988.

In the media & news

The front exterior of the school was used on "The Amanda Show" starring Amanda Bynes. It was used in the show's soap opera spoof segment called "Moody's Point".

The school was also used as a filming location for several scenes in the 1996 made-for-TV movie "Lying Eyes".

The school, its stadium and track, and nearby Santa Cruz Ave. were also used for filming an episode of the 1986 television series "Starman"; drama students played the role of some extras.

The film "Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story," was based on the life of former Los Gatos High School head football coach Charlie Wedemeyer, who was stricken with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and continued to coach the football team for several years.

In 1992, Principal Ted Simonson attracted media controversy for a series of jokes he made during a roast at the Lions Club in which he referred to female joggers as "jigglers" and described gay-friendly city of San Francisco, California as "Fairyland" and the predominantly African American city of Oakland, California as "Jungleland." [Dale Bryant, "Principal Lessons: Whether the road is bumpy or smooth - and it's been both - Ted Simonson stays the course," "Los Gatos Weekly-Times", (27 May 1998), http://www.svcn.com/archives/lgwt/05.27.98/CoverStory.html.]

Principals

* Doug Ramezane (2005–Present)
* Trudy McCullough (1998–2005)
* Ted Simonson (1979–1998)
* Dr Allen Coryell (?-1978)
* Fred Canrinus (1957-1970)
* Prentiss Brown (1931-1956)
* ? (1888-1931)

References

External links

* [http://www.lghs.net/ Los Gatos High School official website]
* [http://www.svcn.com/archives/lgwt/07.14.99/pic-past-9928.html "Los Gatos Weekly-Times" article about the history of the school, including the front lawn]
* [http://www.smartvoter.org/1998jun/ca/scl/meas/B/ SmartVoter page on 1998 Measure B]